Halle synagogue shooting
The Halle synagogue shooting occurred on 9 October 2019 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, and continued in nearby Landsberg. After unsuccessfully trying to enter the synagogue in Halle during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the attacker, 27-year-old Stephan Balliet, fatally shot two people nearby and later injured two others. Federal investigators called the attack far-right and antisemitic terrorism.
| Halle synagogue shooting | |
|---|---|
| Part of far-right politics in Germany (1945–present) | |
Halle Jewish cemetery gate and synagogue on the left | |
Halle synagogue shooting (Saxony-Anhalt) Halle synagogue shooting (Germany) | |
| Location | Halle and Landsberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany |
| Coordinates | 51.4932°N 11.9803°E |
| Date | 9 October 2019 12:00 CEST |
| Target | Jewish worshippers and others |
Attack type | Mass shooting |
| Weapons |
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| Deaths | 2 |
| Injured | 3 (including the perpetrator) |
| Perpetrator | Stephan Balliet |
| Motive | Antisemitism, far-right extremism |
| Convictions | Murder in two counts, attempted murder in 63 counts and others |
| Sentence | Life imprisonment with preventive detention, severe gravity of guilt declared |
The federal Public Prosecutor General took over the investigation and declared it to be a "violation of Germany's internal security." Balliet, a German neo-Nazi from Saxony-Anhalt, was charged with two counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. On 10 November 2019, Balliet confessed to the charges before an investigative judge at the Federal Court of Justice. On 21 December 2020, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with subsequent preventive detention.